And she called the home of Susan Rice, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

Her calls weren't appreciated. The Department of Defense and the Department of State told her never to call anyone who worked for them again.

But Mary Jo Pullen-Hughes, who estimates she has made about 75,000 phone calls to public officials, bureaucrats and journalists over the last two decades, isn't easily discouraged.

When she phoned receptionists at both departments, the federal government pushed to have her prosecuted for telephonic harassment.

And they pushed hard -- sending at least two federal employees -- a special agent and a receptionist from the Pentagon -- to Portland to testify at the misdemeanor trial last week.

"Everyone thought it was odd," said Eric Deitrick, public defender for Pullen-Hughes. He asked other defense attorneys if they'd ever seen so much money spent prosecuting a telephonic harassment case. "I think it was a waste," said Deitrick.

Pullen-Hughes, 57, meticulously follows international and national events. Deitrick said she managed to prompt a congressional inquiry in the 1980s over the fate of American POWs whom she alleged had been secretly brought back to the U.S. and killed to keep them quiet.

Pullen-Hughes, who can speak quickly and is obviously well-read, said she found home phone numbers for the secretary of defense and U.N. ambassador on an Internet phone directory. She called them in August and September.

Parris LaCaria, a special agent with the Department of Defense, flew to Oregon last October to meet with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Portland, according to Pullen-Hughes' attorney. He said the local office declined to prosecute Pullen-Hughes.

But the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office filed a charge against her after she called a secretary at the Pentagon in November. That secretary, Joyce Grant, testified last week that Pullen-Hughes spoke to her for about 10 to 15 minutes about a variety of subjects, saying she had information about an event that was going to be worse than 9/11.

But to be guilty of telephonic harassment, the prosecution had to prove that Pullen-Hughes harassed or annoyed the secretary. The secretary testified that she didn't feel harassed and annoyed, and that Pullen-Hughes was polite. Prosecutor Elizabeth Eames, however, argued that the Department of Defense was clearly "annoyed" by the call. The call spurred an investigation.

And, Eames pointed out, "They sent an agent across the country to tell her not to call again."

During the trial, the special agent, LaCaria, said he thought Pullen-Hughes was delusional and possibly mentally ill. Although Pullen-Hughes didn't testify, she said after the trial such an accusation was offensive and that government is nervous because she knows too much.